Life Sciences. White Paper. Integrated Digital Marketing: The Key To Understanding Your Customer

Transcription

1 Life Sciences White Paper Integrated Digital Marketing: The Key To Understanding Your Customer

2 About the Authors Raghunandan H Head, Life Sciences Sales & Marketing Center of Excellence Raghunandan (Raghu) has 18 years of experience spanning IT consultancy, delivery, and business development in the life sciences domain, as well as pharmaceutical sales, marketing, distribution, and operations. In the initial ten years of his career, he has worked for pharma majors in various sales and marketing roles. For the past seven years, Raghu has been working in the IT Industry and has been associated with Life Sciences and Healthcare verticals. Raghu's expertise lies in managing business aligned IT consulting in sales, marketing, customer relationship management, Sales Force Automation, multi-channel marketing, e-marketing and related areas. Parimal Nagtode Domain Consultant, Life Sciences Sales & Marketing Center of Excellence Parimal has been working in the IT industry for past 13 years and with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for over eight years, associated with Life Sciences and HiTech industry verticals. Parimal has managed several large deliveries of e-marketing and related projects for US-based clients and has worked on various digital marketing initiatives for TCS' Life Sciences vertical.

3 With diverse digital touch points such as social, web, and mobile gaining popularity across the customer base, digital marketing is, today, perceived as a cost-effective marketing strategy to improve customer connect. In keeping with this trend, life sciences companies are trying to improve, define and design their digital marketing strategy. Life sciences organizations have their own set of challenges in strategizing their digital marketing - disconnected channels, multiple customer touch-points, industry regulatory guidelines on leveraging digital channels specifically social media, and isolated digital marketing operations. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies need to build the best possible integrated digital marketing services to establish two-way targeted communication that is compliant with applicable regulations. This white paper focuses on the current challenges of a fragmented digital marketing landscape and defines strategies for building integrated digital marketing services within life sciences organizations to drive consistent customer experience.

4 Contents Digital Marketing 5 Overview 5 Digital Marketing Trends 5 Life Sciences Digital Landscape 6 Overview 6 Fragmented Digital Marketing Challenges 6 Need To Build Integrated Digital Marketing Services For Life Sciences Organizations 8 Building Blocks And Focus Areas For Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Services 9 Delivering Value Through Integrated Digital Marketing Services 11 Conclusion 12

5 Digital Marketing Overview Digital marketing involves promoting products and services using various digital channels to reach consumers at the right time through their preferred channel. Digital channels are rendered and accessed via desktops, tablets, mobile, smartphones, and gaming consoles and can effectively deliver personalized content and promotions. With the increased use of the web, social media, and mobility, organizations are leveraging digital channels for wider and more effective customer reach, by launching multiple global and region-specific campaigns. This digital adoption helps provide cost-effective, consistent personalized customer messaging as compared to traditional marketing such as print, television, direct mail and so on. Organizations are leveraging digital marketing methods for successful marketing strategy implementationinbound marketing through publishing content online in the form of portals, podcasts, e-journals, online campaigns, social media marketing, search services; and outbound marketing including marketing, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and others. A recent survey of 3300 business executives from various industries indicates that on an average, 34% of a company s leads come from inbound marketing verses 22% through 1 outbound marketing. Digital Marketing Trends Organizations are implementing a wide range of digital channels so as to engage customers in a more 2 personalized way. Digital marketing trends that organizations are rapidly embracing include : Mobility Business Insider's recent report indicates that globally, one in every five people owns a smart phone, 3 and one in every 17 owns a tablet. That's an increase of nearly 1.3 billion smartphones in last four years. Therefore an increased user base accessing the internet via smartphones has prompted many companies to optimize their online content for mobile devices. Social media Organizations are focusing on engaging with customers through social media to offer real-time interactions. Social media helps organizations reach out to a vast pool of potential customers by supplying them with medical and campaign-related information. Social-Local-Mobile marketing The growing popularity of smart mobile devices, increasing location based social activities like experience sharing, review reading via social media and the evolution of Global Positioning System (GPS) are helping companies leverage Social-Local-Mobile marketing activities. [1] 2013 State of Inbound Marketing, 2013, October 2013, [2] 2013: The Year of Integrated Digital Marketing - Chris Horton, December 2012, March 2013, The-Year-of-Integrated-Digital-Marketing [3] Smartphone and Tablet Penetration Business Insider, October 2013, October 2013, 5

6 Personalized Content marketing Customer engagement, acquisition and retention have all taken on a new dimension with the delivery of unique, personalized, and relevant messages through identified digital channels. is one of the most preferred marketing channel to broadcast targeted organization messages and campaigns to existing and prospective customers. Advanced analytics Increased adoption of digital channels is generating large volumes of customer behavioral data. Advanced actionable analytics can help organizations define targeted marketing strategies. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Organizations are focusing on SEO efforts and paid search advertising for enhancing the visibility of their products and services. Life Sciences Digital Landscape Overview Life sciences companies have exercised caution in adopting digital channels, perhaps because of the small user base, the highly regulated nature of the industry as well as the unclear industry guidelines on social media usage. However, the emergence of online professional and patient communities and the increased usage of social media, mobile, online information seeking and sharing by patients, healthcare professionals (HCP), key opinion leaders (KOL) and the larger medical fraternity have prompted pharmaceutical companies to explore and invest in digital marketing strategies within industry guidelines. Another significant driver for digital marketing adoption is the growing need to streamline internal (within the organization) communication to improve work efficiency and employee satisfaction. By leveraging digital channels through a well-defined strategy, pharmaceutical companies can effectively connect with their customers at large. Fragmented Digital Marketing Challenges Eight in 10 physicians use smartphones in their daily practice and six in 10 physicians use tablets. The top use of smartphones is for accessing drug information while tablets are used mostly to access medical research. In addition, mobile apps are being used by 24% of physicians, making these the top digital/social media channel used for work 4 purposes. Traditionally and over the years, life sciences companies have been leveraging digital channels using an isolated approach rather than an integrated one. [4] Wolters Kluwer Health 2013 Physician Outlook Survey, 2013, October 2013, 6

7 Figure 1 indicates various standalone communication touch-points used to deliver medical as well as promotional messages across the life sciences value chain. Healthcare Professionals, Patients, Payers, Hospitals, etc. Figure 1: Life sciences customer touch-points (digital and non-digital) The consequence of this disconnected digital approach is the absence of a 360-degree customer view leading to marketing gaps. Companies have to cross many intermittent hurdles to execute, manage, and subsequently measure the success of their marketing campaigns across digital channels with multiple customer touch-points. The key challenges of the fragmented digital marketing landscape are: Lack of consolidated operational and strategic metrics across various digital channels Lack of business process harmonization Independent and fragmented digital promotion Multiple IT solutions for similar digital marketing services across geographies and business units of an organization Inability to reuse digital assets Involvement of multiple stakeholders and decision makers Lack of compliance and regulation implementation Lack of synergies across services, products, and markets associated with digital marketing 7

8 Figure 2 illustrates cases of concerns around fragmented and disconnected digital marketing services that life sciences organizations contend with. Multi-channel Marketing [Large Global Pharmaceutical Company] Closed Loop Marketing [US based Major Pharmaceutical Company] Fragmented digital and non-digital commercial operations for different brand units resulting in inconsistent and partial messaging across channels Lack of uniform strategy across channels on insights analysis thus impacting decisions. Limited information visibility across enterprise as no integration with existing Customer Relationship Management/ Sales Force Automation solutions Multiple Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) solutions across geographies and different business units which are disconnected and not integrated Fragmented insights from multiple CLM solutions resulting in failure to cater to customer specific requirements on-time Failure to deliver relevant personalized information Digital Marketing Effectiveness Measurement [Global US based Pharmaceutical Company] Insights captured across multiple channels (web, mobile, , social) remain in silo and fragmented Weak and ineffective analysis of customer insights and sentiments Improper measurement of digital campaigns and incomplete customer view Figure 2: Fragmented digital marketing cases & concerns Need to Build Integrated Digital Marketing Services for Life Sciences Organizations The emergence of new digital channels and the challenges of the fragmented digital marketing landscape necessitate the building of cost optimized integrated digital marketing services for enhanced customer experience. Life sciences organizations are exploring various options to build digital marketing services focused on integration of digital channels and functions such as campaign management, marketing, search engine optimization, edetailing, ecommerce and so on. This is to ensure seamless presence across multiple channels and perform better analytics. 8

9 Figure 3 highlights some of the key digital marketing initiatives that can be integrated. Life Sciences Companies key Digital Marketing Initiatives Sales force & HCPs interactions digitization - edetailing, Virtual Meeting, Tele detailing Health-centric collaboration communities (disease therapy or theme communities) Social media to engage HCPs, KOLs and Patients marketing Personalized communication On-the-go connection with HCP, Patients, Sales Reps and other identified stakeholders (Mobility / Contact centers) Extended service through social channels Predictive modeling & data insights (help interaction improvisation) Integrated Digital Marketing Ecosystem (Healthcare Professionals, Sales Reps Pharmaceutical organizations, Regulatory Authorities, Patients etc.) Figure 3: Life sciences key digital marketing initiatives Building blocks and focus areas for implementing integrated digital marketing services The key building blocks of an integrated digital marketing ecosystem that organizations need to consider arecommunication channels, digital functions and services, related integration services and enterprise data (Figure 4). Digital Channels Communication medium to reach customers and promote brands Key channels include web, mobile, , social media, video, online games etc. Digital functions Modules and features that are part of digital marketing services Includes marketing, campaign management, edetailing, ecommerce etc. Digital services Services which are needed for execution of the digital functions Includes registration services, workflows, security, reporting etc. Integration services External integration services includes social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, PatientsLikeMe etc.) and online professional communities (WebMD, Sermo etc.) Internal integration with systems such as Customer Relationship Management, Master Data Management etc. Enterprise data Data storage services for customer, product, employee, vendor etc. Includes Enterprise Data Warehouse, Customer Relationship Management, Master Data Management etc. Figure 4 : Digital marketing building blocks 9

10 Focus areas for implementing and managing integrated digital marketing services are pertinent IT solutions and services, business process harmonization, organizational change management, and regulatory compliance. IT solutions and services: Leveraging IT to build an integrated digital marketing ecosystem (Figure 5) consists of various technology entities that are integrated seamlessly, offering multiple functionalities. Web User Tablet User Mobile User Internet Healthcare Professional Patient Hospital Payers Employees Channels Web Mobile Social Video Functions Campaign Management Search Engine Marketing/ Search Engine Optimization Management edetailing ecommerce Social Media Solutions Analytics Collaboration Services Services Business Rules Security Authorization Search Analytics Services Workflows Digital Asset Management Web Content Management Figure 5: Integrated digital marketing landscape- IT solutions & services Channels The digital marketing landscape includes various communication channels such as social, web, mobile, , video, and so on. Organizations must identify the appropriate mix of channels based on target audience. Functions marketing: Personalized communication by and performing analytics SEO/SEM: Promotion using search engines with optimized portal implementation including relevant keywords, content, and quality links Campaign management: Planning, executing, tracking and analyzing inbound and outbound digital marketing initiatives 10

11 Analytics: Measurement of campaign effectiveness, channel performance, customer engagement metrics, Return on Investment (ROI) measurement, unmet needs/requirements identification, web analytics and so on edetailing: Interaction between healthcare professionals and medical representatives where a prescriber is informed about products and brands using self-detailed portals or guided interactive visuals over web and mobile Social media solutions: Listening to and analyzing online behavior of physicians and patients through exclusive portals, blogs and social networking sites ecommerce: Online sales among manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, re-sellers, vendors, consumers, and others Collaboration services: Seamless collaboration among internal and external stakeholders across geographies and business units Services Services required for the execution of digital functions such as business rules, security, authorization, workflows, search, digital asset management, analytics and web content management Building scalable and flexible solutions Catering to global and regional requirements and ensuring business and technology agility to respond to and adapt changes in real-time Understanding customer behavior and channel effectiveness by using appropriate measurement framework Building multi-channel rendering and reusable digital assets Harmonizing and standardizing business processes across channels Ensuring processes, procedures, and content adherence to global, regional, and local regulations Categorization of market based on digital service maturity and local consumer needs Managing organizational change to ensure adoption of transformation Delivering value through integrated digital marketing services Adoption of integrated digital marketing services can help life sciences organizations to: Increase cost efficiencies and maximize return on investment Enhance digital marketing decision-making through better analytics Ensure faster and effective customer reach for promotions and campaigns Enable reusability of digital assets to reduce costs Seamlessly deliver marketing initiatives with flexible and scalable solutions Facilitate mapping of right channels across right geographies for the right products and services 11

12 Improve customer behavioral analysis and segmentation that correlate to future sales Build brand loyalty by delivering value-adds to all stakeholders Enhance customer experience across all digital communication channels Deliver consistent message across channels Life sciences organizations have started leveraging integrated digital marketing services in a phased manner. Case 1 A large research-based pharmaceutical company had initiated phase wise deployment of an integrated platform for digital and non-digital marketing services to enhance customer centric marketing. With this consolidated marketing platform for brand promotion and campaigns across various channels, the company plans to leverage channel optimization, appropriate customer-channel mapping, consistent campaign measurement, and predictive analytics to maximize ROI. The company aims to increase engagement with patients, healthcare professionals (HCP), and key opinion leaders by providing a personalized and consistent experience across touch-points. Case 2 A global pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company has decided to leverage a cloud based integrated digital marketing platform for cost optimization, to streamline its global digital marketing operations and to enhance global customer engagement. Conclusion Today, life sciences customers are looking for relevant and consistent information across digital channels that cater to their needs - medical and scientific information, research updates, product information, industry and organization updates, campaigns and so on. Life sciences organizations are struggling to effectively engage customers across digital touch-points and deliver consistent brand messaging. As part of the integrated digital marketing strategy, pharmaceutical companies should: Define a comprehensive multi-channel marketing strategy to adopt various online and offline channels Adopt a globally accepted flexible model to incorporate technology initiatives like Big Data, high performance computing, cloud services and customer engagement models like ecommerce, online games, mobile services 12

13 Adhere to global, regional, and local pharma regulations, constantly review to ensure compliance with emerging regulations Listen and analyze online customer on continuous basis to understand customer behavior and channel effectiveness Focus on cost optimization initiatives like centralized production services, reusable digital assets, global vendor management, managed services Harmonize and standardize processes across channels, business units and geographies Define and drive organizational change management strategy By following this streamlined approach for integrating digital marketing services, organizations can deliver cost optimized, consistent and effective messaging to customers across the globe, thereby building brand loyalty. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Sanjeev Sachdeva, Head Pharma IT Solutions and Innovation Group, TCS Life Sciences for his contribution to this paper. 13

14 About TCS Life Sciences Top Global Life Sciences organizations derive value from TCS' full services play in IT, Consulting, KPO, Infrastructure and Engineering Services as well as new age business solutions including Mobility and Big Data. TCS' rich industry experience, domain expertise and global footprint ensures that it partners with its Life Sciences customers to help them advance clinical trial efficiencies, accelerate drug discovery, maximize manufacturing productivity and improve sales and marketing effectiveness. In addition, TCS has a dedicated Life Sciences Innovation Lab which ensures that its customers have the tools and innovative solutions they need to solve complex business challenges. Contact For more information, contact lshcip.pmo@tcs.com Subscribe to TCS White Papers TCS.com RSS: Feedburner: About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled infrastructure, engineering and TM assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata Group, India s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has a global footprint and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at IT Services Business Solutions Consulting All content / information present here is the exclusive property of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS). The content / information contained here is correct at the time of publishing. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transmitted, posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from TCS. Unauthorized use of the content / information appearing here may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. Copyright 2014 Tata Consultancy Services Limited TCS Design Services I M I 01 I 14